A MAN orchestrated a four-year regime of terrifying domestic abuse against his stepchildren to instill discipline into their lives, a court has heard.
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The 39-year-old man, who cannot be named for legal reasons, choked, whipped, burnt cigarettes and set his stepchildren’s hair on fire while also sexually abusing his stepdaughter.
The man pleaded guilty to 39 charges, including six counts of incest, six of indecent acts with a child under the age of 16, seven of intentionally cause serious injury, four of reckless conduct endangering someone’s life and other related charges at a County Court sitting in Ballarat.
Crown prosecutor Cecily Hollingworth on Monday said the man was a “strict disciplinarian” who constructed a rota of extensive chores for the children that, if not completed, would usually result in violence.
The court heard the children, aged 11, 10 and nine, were abused from 2011-2013.
On one occasion, the court heard the man purposefully held his stepson’s hand onto the handlebars of a quad bike in the back garden. With his hand pinned down, the boy was forced to run alongside the moving vehicle before falling and being run over.
The court heard how the man persistently intimidated the young boys, forcing them to take their clothes off if they lost a game of cards and, on occasion, strangling them until they passed out.
The man, who is trained in martial arts, also had sex with his 11-year-old stepdaughter on a number of occasions in his partner’s bed between December 2012 and April 2013.
Defence barrister Anthony Lewis said the offending was abhorrent, which was, in part, explained by his client’s violent upbringing, where he was subject to similar abuse.
The man will be sentenced at a date to the fixed.